The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Digital maps may be accessed through mapping applications on smart phones and many other handheld devices. Most of these devices are equipped with positioning sensors, such as Global Position System (GPS), which determine a user's location as a set of geographic coordinates. Some mapping applications may then determine whether a user is in a place of interest by checking whether the user's location is within a so-called geofence.
A geofence is a virtual perimeter created around a place (such as a business, landmark, residence, etc.). Although a typical place geometry isn't circular, geofences usually are set up as circles having a center point and radius.